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\ Brownfields 2017 Area-Wide Planning Grant Fact Sheet
Wayne County Brownfield Redevelopment Authority, River Rouge, Ml
EPA Brownfields Program
EPA's Brownfields Program empowers states, communities,
and other stakeholders to work together to prevent, assess,
safely clean up, and sustainably reuse brownfields. A
brownfield site is real property, the expansion, redevelopment,
or reuse of which may be complicated by the presence or
potential presence of a hazardous substance, pollutant, or
contaminant. In 2002, the Small Business Liability Relief and
Brownfields Revitalization Act was passed to help states and
communities around the country clean up and revitalize
brownfields sites. Under this law, EPA provides financial
assistance to eligible applicants through competitive grant
programs for brownfields site assessment, site cleanup,
revolving loan funds, area-wide planning, and job training.
Additional funding support is provided to state and tribal
response programs through a separate mechanism.
Brownfields Area-Wide Planning
Program
EPA's Brownfields Area-Wide Planning
Program assists communities in responding
to local brownfields challenges,
particularly where multiple brownfield
sites are in close proximity, connected by
infrastructure, and limit the economic,
environmental and social prosperity of
their surroundings. This program enhances
EPA's core brownfields assistance
programs by providing grant funding to
communities so they can perform the
research needed to develop an area-wide
plan and implementation strategies for
brownfields assessment, cleanup, and
reuse. The resulting area-wide plans
provide direction for future brownfields
area improvements that are protective of
public health and the environment,
economically viable, and reflective of the
community's vision for the area.
Project Description
$200,000.00
EPA has selected the Wayne County Brownfield
Redevelopment Authority as a Brownfields
Area-Wide Planning Grant recipient. The Wayne
County Brownfield Redevelopment Authority will
work with the community and other stakeholders
to develop an area-wide plan and implementation
strategy for the redevelopment of the City of River
Rouge's downtown area, the area of the DTE
Energy Rouge River Power Plant, which fronts
both the Rouge and Delaware Rivers and is slated
for closure in 2020, and the neighborhood in
between these two sites. River Rouge is an
existing developed community historically
steeped in economic prosperity, where residents
could expect to find high-quality, high-skill
careers in the manufacturing sector. However,
River Rouge's economy has recently declined,
and in response, the city is seeking to develop a
planning initiative that will attract developers who
will invest in high-quality housing located in
walkable, transit-oriented, dense neighborhoods
with vibrant commercial corridors.
Redevelopment of the project area is expected to
create jobs and job training opportunities for the
local community, improve health and
environmental conditions that contribute to
environmental justice disparities, and incorporate
the Power Plant and other high-priority sites into
the proposed Gordie Howe International Bridge
project, which will span across the Detroit River
and connect the area to Canada. Key partners who
will work with the Wayne County Brownfield
Redevelopment Authority on this project include
the Detroit-Wayne County Port Authority, Sierra
Club-Southeast Michigan Group, University of
Michigan, Southeast Michigan Community
United States
Environmental
Protection Agency
Washington, DC 20450
Solid Waste
and Emergency
Response (5105T)
EPA 560-F-17-001J
January 2017

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Alliance, Ultimate New Beginnings, City of River
Rouge, Detroit City Council, Michigan Economic
Development Corporation, Detroiters Working for
Environmental Justice, and Downriver
Community Conference.
Contacts
For further information, including specific grant contacts, additional
grant information, brownfields news and events, and publications and
links, visit the EPA Brownfields Web site
(http://www.epa.gov/brownfields).
EPA Region 5 Brownfields Team
(312)	886-9493
EPA Region 5 Brownfields Web site
(https://www.epa.gov/brownfields/brownfie
lds-and-land-revitalization-illinois-ind
iana-michigan-minnesota-ohio-and)
Grant Recipient: Wayne County Brownfield Redevelopment Authority,
MI
(313)967-1039
The information presented in this fact sheet comes from the grant
proposal; EPA cannot attest to the accuracy of this information. The
cooperative agreement for the grant has not yet been negotiated.
Therefore, activities described in this fact sheet are subject to change.
United States
Environmental
Protection Agency
Washington, DC 20450
and Emergency
Response (5105T)
Solid Waste
EPA 560-F-17-001J
January 2017

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